ALAMEDA — TJ Carrie understands that a tackle can be just important as an interception.

A lot of times, we pride ourselves on embracing the fact that we”re going to play it off deep, force them to check it down then come up and make a tackle and get off the field, Carrie said Thursday.

Carrie takes his role as a tackler seriously, as evidenced by his team-leading total of 47 — one ahead of linebacker Khalil Mack and safety Karl Joseph for the Raiders. Carrie estimates he”s had maybe two or three missed tackles all year.

And the former De La Salle High star remembers the whiffs more than the actual tackles.

It makes you mad, Carrie said. When we go into the meeting rooms those are plays our coordinators are expecting us to make.

The Raiders are without question a better tackling team than at any time in recent memory, a trait has been overshadowed by an embarrassing goose egg when it comes to interceptions. They”ve been the only team in the league without a pick two weeks running.

It bugs us every day, Carrie said. There will be weeks when we have lots of turnovers in practice. You practice how you play so in the game you expect those plays to be made. We expect to make them. It”s been a downer for us, but it also fires us up, knowing what”s expected.

We”re looking like a bad turnover team right now but we know we can be better.

By contrast, the Buffalo Bills, Sunday”s opponent in Orchard Park, N.Y., have nine interceptions and lead the NFL with a plus-10 turnover differential. Quarterback Tyrod Taylor has been intercepted only twice. It”s one of the biggest reasons why the Bills are 4-2.

The Raiders have been victims of bad luck and bad hands, given that they have 29 passes defensed. That”s 29 times defenders have gotten at least a piece of a thrown ball, yet none has settled into the hands of a Raider. Nor has Khalil Mack or another pass rusher hit a quarterback in such a way that a ball fluttered to a grateful defensive back or linebacker.

David Amerson has twice been victimized on touchdown passes where he simply miss-timed his leap. Reggie Nelson dropped a sure interception against Washington. When active, Gareon Conley batted a ball into the air and neither he nor Nelson came up with it.

The ball isn”t just going to come to you, defensive coordinator Ken Norton Jr. said. You have to go up and get it. You have to want it. You have to practice it. You have to go up and make a play on it.

In a 31-30 win over Kansas City, Keith McGill deflected an Alex Smith pass and it hit Albert Wilson in stride for 63-yard touchdown play.

The dearth of interceptions hasn”t been for a lack of effort. The JUGS machine which shoots footballs has been used by defenders nearly as much as by receivers.

I think we burned out a motor, we”re going at it so much, coach Jack Del Rio said. We”ll just keep going. Get a new motor. Keep shooting those balls and try to catch the next one.

The last Raiders interception came from Brynden Trawick against Trevor Siemian with 3:05 left in the third quarter in last year”s regular-season finale against the Denver Broncos.

Siemian threw three more passes that day, and opponents have thrown 219 times this year without being intercepted, bringing the total to 222. That included Baltimore”s Joe Flacco, who had a string of 10 games with an interception coming in, and the Chargers” Philip Rivers, who had 57 interceptions in his previous 53 games before facing the Raiders.

Raiders quarterback Derek Carr, who said he”s thrown interceptions in practice against his own defense, says it doesn”t add up.

When you get in the games and you hear that stat, it doesn”t even make sense because we have guys that are really good around the ball, Carr said.

The record for fewest interceptions in a 16-game season is four by the 2008 Detroit Lions, who finished 0-16. The lowest ever for the Raiders is five, by the 2005 team that finished 4-12.

Carrie, who takes pride in his tackling ability and has been on balance the best Raiders cornerback, nonetheless wants to add an interception or three to his resume.

Sometimes you have to to take a risk, Carrie said. You”ve got to be willing to gamble and put it all on the line for the one play to make a difference in the game. You”ve got to take advantage of your opportunities, and we”re working on it day in and day out.